Cardiff City Manager Brian Barry-Murphy Discusses Squad Depth and Free-Agent Market

Cardiff City boss Brian Barry-Murphy says the club are scouring the free-agent market as injuries and a winless start to the Championship season stretch his squad to its limits.

The lack of depth was laid bare in midweek at Stoke City, where 15-year-old Noah Anyadike and 16-year-old Paul Moreno were named on the bench. It looked like a crisis move from the outside. Barry-Murphy pushed back.

“Those players were on the bench because they've done really well and they were deserving of it,” he said. “If we had signed more players, then maybe they wouldn't have been, but they are and I'm very pleased with them.

“There were very similar players in a similar position last season who've now become mainstays in the team. They all have to start somewhere.”

Thin squad, heavy schedule

Cardiff’s problems are clear. Dylan Lawlor, Will Fish, Calum Chambers and Isaak Davies are all sidelined, while Rubin Colwill is battling ankle irritation and faces a race to be fit for Saturday’s trip to Bolton Wanderers.

An injury list like that always drags recruitment into the spotlight. Cardiff brought in only four new signings over the summer, and after Krystian Bielik’s arrival Barry-Murphy hinted more business was likely. Deadline day came and went without another addition.

So attention has turned to the unattached market.

“We have to have an awareness of all the players who are available,” Barry-Murphy said. “Based on how the window is, we monitor everything. The recruitment team here are across everything.

“It's a different time frame. All the players in the unattached market have different options all over the world. You just have to see what we need and what they have available. It's an ongoing thing.”

Speculation has inevitably followed. Wales international Rabbi Matondo, now a free agent after leaving Norwegian side Brann, has been mentioned as a possible target. Barry-Murphy moved quickly to cool that talk.

“There's nothing in that,” he said. “He's a player I know, obviously. He was at Manchester City before I was there.”

Youngsters trusted, core still missing

For all the noise around signings, the manager knows the quickest fix is getting his established players back.

Ryan Wintle’s departure seemed to open a hole in midfield, but Alex Robertson has stepped into that space with authority. Barry-Murphy says the midfielder has gone up “another level” this season, one of the few clear positives in a difficult opening spell.

Lawlor is edging closer to a return and could be back when Cardiff host Charlton Athletic at Cardiff City Stadium on 19 September (12:30 BST). Fish is expected to rejoin full training during the upcoming international break.

“Once we get Dylan and Will back, we'll be in a really strong and healthy position,” Barry-Murphy said.

Chambers is a different story. Knee, neck and back issues have left his situation far more uncertain.

“He's been in the wars a bit,” Barry-Murphy admitted. “It's quite difficult to put a timescale on when he returns.”

Davies, meanwhile, is set to miss around three weeks with a hamstring injury.

So Cardiff head to Bolton short on bodies, leaning on teenagers for cover, and with their manager walking a tightrope between the here-and-now of results and the longer view of development. The free-agent list is open on the desk. The question now is how long they can wait before turning interest into action.